What are you dressing up as for Halloween this year?

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"Money, money, moneyyy!" Skizz cheered as he took an envelope from Seari, the others laughing at his excitement. He was quick to open it and pull out the check, gawking at the number on it. "Fi-"

"It's rude to say how much money you got," Seari snapped, pausing giving Joker his check to give Skizz a sideways glance.

Skizz frowned, but smiled again when he looked back at his paycheck. Five hundred dollars. That was more than he'd ever gotten in a single paycheck before. This job was incredible.

"Holy fuck!" Joker shouted, looking at his.

"I know right!" Skizz said, laughing. "It's so much!"

Joker nodded, his mouth hung open in shock. "Jesus, I could buy a whole car with this," he said.

Skizz blinked. "Wait, how... How much did you get?" he asked hesitantly. He knew that five hundred was a lot, but wasn't that much. Did Joker make more than Skizz did?

Impulse started to laugh when he saw his check, nudging Joker. "Dude, we can buy two cars!" he said. Impulse, too?! "This is awesome!"

Tango blinked as he opened his check. "What are you two talking about?" he said. "This isn't that much."

Skizz let out a relieved sigh upon hearing that. So Tango didn't make that much either, he thought. What a relief.

"Okay, okay, go home, kids," Mr. Arcouri said. "Enjoy the time off. We'll call you when we have a job for you."

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"How about we go out for lunch?" Impulse said, making Tango scoff.

"Yeah, and blow all of our money as soon as we get it?" He rolled his eyes as he drove Joker's small Toyota. "No thank you."

Impulse laughed a bit. "Come on, we're not going to spend all of it by going out to lunch," he said. "And it's not like we don't have any money to spare. I mean a thousand dollars is huge!"

Tango slammed on the brakes as he came to a red light, startling everyone in the car. "Sorry?" He stared at Impulse with wide eyes, leaving Impulse confused. "How much did you say you got?"

"...A thousand?" Impulse said, sounding slightly unsure. He paused, shrinking under Tango's incredulous gaze. "How- how much did you get?"

"Six hundred," Tango answered grumpily, then turned to face forward and drove when the light turned green. "How the fuck did you get so much more than me?" He looked in the mirror at Joker and Skizz. "How much did you two get?" he asked.

"Same as Imp," Joker said distractedly as he played a game on his phone. "What about you, Skizz?"

Skizz swallowed thickly and laughed. "Same as you guys, duh," he said nervously, probably sweating.

Tango didn't say anything, but Joker, Skizz and Impluse could all tell that he was pissed. He stared intently and angrily at the road in front of them and stayed quiet.

Skizz thought maybe he should've come clean to make Tango feel a little better, but then again, Skizz would feel worse himself. He couldn't just say he only got five hundred. Besides, he could just pretend and say he wants to save the money for later to not have to spend any.

"Tango, I'm sorry," Impulse said softly, and Tango rolled his eyes. "I can give you two hundred, then we'll be ev-"

"I don't want your money," Tango practically growled as he pulled into a small fast-food restaurant. "There, you guys can go get something to eat."

Joker looked up from his phone to look at Tango through the rearview mirror. "What? You're not coming with us?" For a guy who typically didn't care much about anything, he sounded extremely disappointed. He frowned when Tango shook his head. "Why not?"

"Not hungry."

Impulse sighed. "Tango, I'm sorry," he said. "If I knew, I would've said something to them-"

"Just go eat," Tango sighed. "Enjoy your rich-people food."

Skizz blinked, looking at where they stopped. "Top, this is a Burger King-"

"I said go eat!" Tango snapped. "Go have fun and goof around, okay? I'm just... gonna go back to the corner store and work a shift to make up for the money, I guess."

"Don't do that," Skizz sighed. "Look, I lied." That piqued the intrigue of Joker and Impulse whilst seeming to make Tango angrier. "I didn't make the same as Joker and Impulse. In fact... I made less than you did, Top."

Tango blinked, and suddenly, all of his anger vanished. "What?"

Skizz nodded whilst holding his head down to hide his slight humiliation. "Yeah," he said timidly. "I only made about five hundred dollars."

Impulse looked confused as he turned in his seat to face Skizz. "Why did you lie, though?" he asked, sounding a bit concerned. "You didn't have to."

"I just... I didn't want it to seem like I'm the runt of the group, okay?" Skizz admitted, and he slumped in the seat, huffing upsettably. "I did bad at the house last night and I didn't get paid as much because of it and now we don't have as much money because of it. If anything I should be working an extra shift at the corner store."

Joker rolled his eyes at how worked up Skizz was getting over the money. "Look, man," he said, "it doesn't matter how much who made." He pocketed his phone and sat upright in the seat instead of slouching. "It was our first job, for Christ's sake. We were all bad! Hell, Impulse came screaming and running out of the house, I did nothing but stare at a camera, all Tango did was turn on lights, and you cowered behind your boyfriend the whole time." Impulse turned away at that to hide his face.

Skizz huffed. "Impulse is not my boyfriend," he said, though he looked a little flustered. "And I wasn't cowering, I was just..." He trailed off, unable to think another word to describe what he'd been doing.

"Cowering," Joker deadpanned. "You were cowering behind Impulse, the whole time."

"Was not!"

"You definitely were."

"Nuh uh, you jerk!"

Joker snickered. "Yeah huh," he said with a hint of sass, solely to rile Skizz up a bit more. "You're a coward."

Skizz scowled at Joker. "I am not." Well, I am a little bit, but I'm not that much of a coward, am I...?

"You're the biggest coward I know," Joker said, making Skizz do a double take. Oh... "You're scared of everything. Not to mention you're so reliant on Impulse that it's like you're a clingy boyfriend."

Skizz rolled his eyes. "He is not my-"

"Are you babies going to stop bickering?" Tango groaned. "You're like children." He sighed and shook his head, and Joker pursed his lips and looked away awkwardly, realising he might've crossed a line or two. Tango turned off the car and opened his door. "Now are we going to go eat, or what?"

Skizz perked up at that. "You changed your mind?" he asked, happy that Tango was going to eat with them.

"Someone's gotta keep you babies out of trouble," Tango joked, making Skizz smile brightly.

"But of course."

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"Quit throwing chips at me!" Skizz whined as Joker launched, yet another, chip at him. "Jokes!"

Joker laughed. "Make me, coward," he teased, making Skizz roll his eyes.

"Stop calling me that." Skizz shoved a forkful of salad in his mouth, not waiting to finish chewing before speaking again. "You're a real jerk, y'know."

Joker let out a small, nervous laugh and looked to Tango and Impulse, who were engaged in their own conversation with each other. Seeing they were distracted, he turned his attention back to Skizz.

"I feel terrible about being so afraid the whole time," Skizz continued after swallowing his food, "and all you've been doing is rubbing it in my face. It's kind of rude."

Joker looked down and nodded. He always had a hard time gaging whether or not he was going too far with the jokes. Perhaps he should've known this time, though... He felt really bad. "Sorry."

Skizz didn't respond as he stirred his salad around. He was fed up with Joker's apologies and how he never actually changed his behaviour. Sure, it was fun to joke around and call each other goofy names once in a while, but wasn't Skizz making it clear that he was uncomfortable? Why couldn't Joker just get that?

"Uh.. You two okay?" Tango asked, he and Impulse giving Skizz and Joker concerned looks. "Did something happen?"

Joker sighed. "I'm going to the bathroom," he said quietly, then got up and left the table.

Impulse blinked. "I missed something."

"Joker's being a jerk," Skizz said simply. "As per usual." He took another bite of his salad whilst Tango and Impulse looked at each other.

"You know," Impulse said, "Joker doesn't actually think of you as a coward. He's just playing around."

Skizz groaned. "Yeah, and making me feel like an idiot!"

"Skizz, he has a hard time telling when he should stop," Impulse said gently, and Tango nodded. "He doesn't mean any of it."

"That doesn't make it any less hurtful to me!" Skizz huffed. "It doesn't mean anything to him, but it sure does mean an awful lot to me, Dipple Dot. He should know that."

Tango sighed. "Skizz," he said softly, contrasting his typical loudness. "He grew up in a house where that was the closest thing to affection he ever received. He's going to reciprocate that because he thinks that's how he works. He probably isn't going to change."

Skizz stared down at his salad. "Whatever."

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"Goddammit," Tango grumbled as he walked into the living room, staring down at his phone.

Impulse looked up from the television and so did Skizz. "What's up?" Impulse asked, and Skizz turned his attention back to the cop show they were watching.

Tango sighed and pocketed his phone, running a hand through his blonde hair. "Zed just texted saying he has to leave the store," he said. "He wants me to pick up the rest of his shift, but I'm still tired from work yesterday."

"I'll do it," Skizz offered, glancing briefly at Joker, who was knelt at the coffee table counting money. The three of them gave Joker all the money from their paychecks for him to count out and set aside to save for other things. "I could use the extra cash."

"Can't," Joker said distractedly. "We're on call at Phasmo. They might need us in the middle of the shift."

Tango sighed at how Skizz rolled his eyes. "It's only until three," he said. "Just two hours. I'm sure they won't need us by then."

Joker nodded and pursed his lips, setting aside a couple hundreds from the rest of the money. "Now to watch the irony unfold." He yawned. "How much do we want to put away for emergencies and how much for groceries? Oh, and the vacation, too."

Impulse hummed. "How about two hundred for groceries," he started, "six hundred for emergencies, and two hundred for the vacation?"

"I'm good with that," Tango said, and Joker nodded in agreement.

"Got it."

Skizz looked over. "What are those piles?" he asked, pointing to four small stacks of bills.

"Spending money," Joker answered. "Since we're making a shit ton more at this job, I figured that we'd each get some spending money."

"But we don't get spending money," Skizz said sternly. "We put the money to bills and-"

"We have more than enough for bills," Joker interrupted, holding up a hand to hush Skizz. "Relax and just accept the money."

Skizz crossed his arms and pouted. "Whatever. Jerk."

"How am I jerk?!" Joker shouted, slamming his hands on the table and startling everyone in the room. "We never have enough money to spend on ourselves and once we do, I'm a jerk for rationing it out?!"

Skizz blinked. "No, Jokes, I-"

"No, this is unfair!" Joker stood up. "You get the chance to get something nice for yourself, and I'm a jerk because we made more money than we've ever made before? I don't think so."

"I didn't call you a jerk because of that," Skizz said, frowning. "I called you a jerk because you're always trying to prove me wrong."

Joker scoffed. "I'm done talking to you," he grumbled, then walked out of the room, murmuring to himself about how ridiculous Skizz was.

Skizz watched in confusion. "What did I do?"

Tango looked away then down at his phone and smiled before leaving the room.

"Dipple Dot?"

Impulse looked away as well and didn't answer.

"Dude."

"Look, it was a little out of pocket-"

Skizz didn't hesitate before getting up from the sofa and grabbing the keys to the truck. "I'm going to the store," he said, opening the door and slamming it behind him when he left.

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"Do you think we should get involved?" Impulse asked Tango, who was smiling down at his phone. The brunette sighed. "Who am I kidding? That'll probably make it worse." He glanced at Tango again and rolled his eyes at how giddy the blonde man was. "Can you stop sexting your boyfriend for two seconds, please?"

Tango blinked and his face flushed. "I'm not-" He took a deep breath. "Fine, I'll put my phone away," he huffed. "What did you say about staging an intervention?"

Impulse rolled his eyes again. "I didn't say we were going to stage an intervention," he said. "I said, do you think we should get involved in the argument between Jokes and Skizz?"

Tango shrugged. "I mean, they're both pretty pissed and reasonably so," he said. "I think all they need is a little break from each other. Maybe they'll cool down after Skizz's shift is over."

Impulse nodded. "Hopefully."

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Skizz yawned as he packed up his things in the back of the store after the end of his two-hour shift. It had been really boring and nobody had come, and it was a Friday, too. He was honestly surprised.

After shoving ten bucks into the cash register and snatching himself some chicken wings, he left the store and waved to the little short lady that took over the next shift. He hoped in the truck and took a second to have a few bites of chicken, and then pulled out of the parking lot to head back home.

He was in a much better mood having been away from Joker for a while, and he hoped Joker felt the same. He didn't like fighting with someone he considered to be his brother. Today was just a bad day.

But what could make it better was blasting Elvis Presley on the way home.

"You ain't nothin' but a hound dog," Skizz sang, dancing a bit in his seat as he drove. "Cryin' all the time-" He stopped when his phone buzzed and glanced briefly at it to see a.text from Joker. He chose to ignore it for the time being. He could address it after he was finished singing. "You ain't never caught a rabbit, and you ain't no friend of mine!"

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"I'm home," Skizz said as he walked through the front door. He dropped the keys to the truck in a small glass dish and kicked his shoes off at the door. "Where's Joker?" He looked around the living room, finding nobody. "Jokes!"

Joker poked his head out of the kitchen. "Yep?"

"I saw your text," Skizz said. "You wanted to talk?"

Joker nodded. "Gimme two seconds." He went back into the kitchen and made quite a bit of noise with pans before he came out, wearing an apron. "I wanted to apologise," he said, untying the apron and tossing it off to the side. "I shouldn't have yelled at you earlier, and I shouldn't have called you a coward when you were uncomfortable. I'm really sorry, man."

Skizz blinked. "Wow..." He laughed a bit. "Here I was thinking you were still mad at me," he said, laughing more. "I accept your apology and I forgive you." He paused, and glanced away, becoming very awkward all of a sudden. "And... I'm also sorry. I was rude to you. Sorry."

Joker smiled. "I forgive you," he said, then reached for a brief hug. "Do you want some candied bacon?"

"Dude, you made candied bacon?!" Skizz gasped. "Yeah, I want some!"

Laughing, Joker turned toward the kitchen. "Well, come on," he said. "I portioned them out equally so all four of us can have the same amount." He pointed to four jars of the treat. "Take your pick, buddy."

Impulse and Tango watched from the hallway as Skizz and Joker talked and laughed as they ate candied bacon. Impulse let out a sigh of relief and turned to Tango, who smiled at the sight of them getting along.

"Looks like we didn't need to get involved after all," Impulse said quietly.

"Told you," Tango teased the shorter man, who elbowed him in the side.

"Go back to sexting your boyfriend."

"I was not!"

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Sorry that this chapter is shorter than the first one, I didn't know what else to write aksnakak

But I really like this chapter :]